1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a composite medium for simultaneous removal of cationic and anionic heavy metals and a method for manufacturing the same. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a composite medium for simultaneous removal of cationic and anionic heavy metals, capable of removing cationic and anionic heavy metals effectively, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wastewater contains various heavy metals in addition to organic materials, and such heavy metals are not removed by conventional biological methods for treating wastewater. Thus, adsorbents have been used to remove such heavy metals.
Active studies have been conducted about adsorbents capable of adsorbing and removing inorganic materials, such as heavy metals. Typical examples of such studies include a method for removing divalent heavy metals, such as zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) or the like, using hematite (Jeon et al., Water Research, Vol. 38, 2499-2504), a method for removing lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) using gellan gum gel beads (Lazaro et al., Water Research, Vol. 37, 2118-2126), or the like. In addition, as a typical example of methods for removing anionic heavy metals, such as arsenic and chrome, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0553179 discloses a method for removing heavy metals by using alumina.
The above-mentioned methods for removing heavy metals merely allow selective removal of cationic heavy metals or anionic heavy metals. As a method for removing cationic heavy metals and anionic heavy metals, a method for removing mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) by using Ca-alginate is suggested (Arica et al., Journal of Hazardous Materials, B109, 191-199). However, the method shows insufficient removal efficiency.